Listening to White Stripes takes me back to a difficult period in my life when I was unhappy in my day job (and in general) and just beginning to do the blog thing, after my employers finally accepted they had to give up editorial control. Now it’s like I’ve always been galloping alongside the news cycle from dawn to dusk without a bridle, and I’d appreciate it if you could help me keep doing it by making a donation in whatever amount you can afford. Thanks so much!

Here are some remains of the day.

* Democratic support for “cromnibus” spending bill now endangered, particularly after Elizabeth Warren’s objection to Dodd-Frank changes.

* Leave it to Peter King to defend torture as just the production of “tremendous discomfort.”

* Fayettesville, Arkansas repeals its civil rights ordinance thanks to Christian Right objections to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

* At Ten Miles Square, Julia Azari discusses proposals that Obama pardon Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

* At College Guide, Daniel Luzer examines California’s efforts to rebuild very low state financial support for public schools while increasing local accountability measures.

And in non-political news:

* Google tops list of “best places to work;” Bain and In-N-Out Burger make top ten.

That’s it for Wednesday. Let’s close with one more White Stripes song, the very seasonal “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” performed in 2005.

YouTube video

Selah.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.